Voluntary NI?

JezR

It was an illustrative figure for what the pension could be when introduced. Inflation has been a bit higher so it will be a but more. However, I guess I overegged it a bit as it won't be very different.

prestonway

Thank you.

atush

Does the 42 yr old have any Nics from looking after children under the age of 12(16 pre 2012)?

If not, it could be cheaper for the 42 yr old to

A- become self employed in some small fashion from dog walking to house sitting etc and pay SE contribs (much smaller than voluntary ones)

B- work part time for some years and build up their own SP further from the 10 years.

prestonway

atush wrote: »

Does the 42 yr old have any Nics from looking after children under the age of 12(16 pre 2012)?

If not, it could be cheaper for the 42 yr old to

A- become self employed in some small fashion from dog walking to house sitting etc and pay SE contribs (much smaller than voluntary ones)

B- work part time for some years and build up their own SP further from the 10 years.

Thank you.

prestonway

I have used the Government online calculator and don't understand the result it gives. (I cannot post links but this should find it on Google gov.uk/calculate-state-pension).

When entering this:
1. Female
2 DOB 02-Apr-72
3. How many years have you worked and paid National Insurance contributions from the age of 19? 10
How many years from the age of 19 have you claimed unemployment, sickness or disability benefits? Enter 0 if you've never claimed benefits. 0
Have you ever claimed Child Benefit, cared for someone sick or disabled or worked as a registered foster carer? No

It changes the number of years NI contributions from 10 to 13 when it gives the answer
Years of contributions you already have 13

If I change one of the answers to say Child Benefit has been claimed for X years, then it changes the years of contributions to 13 + X.

When I received the State Pension forecast by post, it says the number of years contributions is 10. Why is the online calculator increasing the number of years and why is my forecast by post different?

p00hsticks

prestonway wrote: »

I think the key to the answer to my question may be whether the MSE page on this topic is out of date. As I said in the OP elsewhere I have read that from April 2016 State Pensions for each partner will be based on each persons individual number of years NI contributions, not the record of the spouse.

The MSE page on the topic reflects the currently standing legislation (as does the Pension Service forecast site etc).

The proposed changes from April 2016 haven't yet had Royal Assent and therefore aren't yet law, so it would be premature to refer to them as if they were .....

gadgetmind

atush wrote: »

A- become self employed in some small fashion from dog walking to house sitting etc and pay SE contribs (much smaller than voluntary ones)

My wife does this and it's dead easy. Tell HMRC you want to register as self-employed, also say you want to pay Class 2 NICs of about £135 pa, and you'll get an extra qualifying year on the cheap.

You'll have to tell car insurance etc. about change (pick something cheaper than housewife!) and also fill out a self assessment online once a year.

Triumph13

One key point to note, is that to allow for all the uncertainty around the new STP there is an extension to the normal deadlines for paying voluntary NICs so you should be able to wait until it all becomes clear before making the decision.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ni/volcontr/whentop-up.htm

atush

The extra 3 years are for those aged 16-19 who chould have still been in education. I immigrated to this country later than that, and I get the 3 extra years.

Think this has stopped now, but changes dont tend to be retrospective.

So 13 is correct. If you don't have children she could work? Or do as Gadget says.

prestonway

atush wrote: »

The extra 3 years are for those aged 16-19 who chould have still been in education. I immigrated to this country later than that, and I get the 3 extra years.

Think this has stopped now, but changes dont tend to be retrospective.

So 13 is correct. If you don't have children she could work? Or do as Gadget says.

I don't understand. Where does the aged 16-19 come into it? The online calculator doesn't ask for the ages of any children, and in any case I am entering 'no' for Child Benefit. I put 10 years for my NI contributions and 0 years claimed for Child Benefit, and when it displays the results it says 13 years contributions. But when I get my Pension Forecast by post it just says I have 10 years contributions. Why does the online calculator automatically add another 3 years?